I left the situation entirely to Seo Daeryong.
Seo Daeryong looked toward the curtain and spoke in a voice that showed not the slightest sign of intimidation.
“I want to earn a great deal of money and gain honor as well. And I would like that path to be comfortable. I want to walk a path where I need not limp or bleed. If I can take that path, I will do anything.”
A smile formed on my lips as I lay prostrate behind him with my head lowered. What Seo Daeryong had just said was the opposite of what he had said to me. Even in a situation like this, Seo Daeryong was quick-witted.
The reaction from behind the curtain was not bad.
“You are honest.”
Seo Daeryong had safely passed the first question. Now the gaze behind the curtain turned toward me.
“You say you wish to make that attendant your right hand?”
“He is quick on the uptake and quite outstanding in appearance, so I am certain he will be useful for something.”
Jo Ibaek asked me,
“If your master’s command and mine were to conflict, what would you do?”
“I follow only the young master’s will. That is a fact that would not change even if the Murim Alliance Leader himself came.”
“You are a man of remarkable loyalty.”
Though he said that, Jo Ibaek was sneering behind the curtain. I could tell he was someone who did not believe in people’s loyalty—no, someone who did not believe in people to begin with. In his eyes, even Seo Daeryong must have seemed laughable, let alone a mere attendant. His interest in me ended there.
Jo Ibaek asked Seo Daeryong again,
“If I asked you to kill someone, would you kill them?”
Seo Daeryong flinched and answered cautiously.
“That would depend on who it was. If they were someone who deserved to die, I could kill them.”
“What if I told you to kill someone whose identity you did not even know?”
Seo Daeryong hesitated before answering.
“I would kill them! Just leave it to me!”
A brief silence passed.
Soon after, Jo Ibaek laughed loudly from behind the curtain and said,
“It was a joke, a joke. My good man, we are not the Demonic Cult. Would we commit such evil deeds?”
Seo Daeryong tried hard to hide his confusion, his face caught between tears and laughter.
“I know you were joking as well. Would the winner of the Soryong Tournament commit such a dreadful act?”
“That is correct. I was joking too.”
Seo Daeryong answered awkwardly and wiped away cold sweat. He was acting well. To anyone watching, he was a country bumpkin who had come up from the countryside, crazed with success. Bringing even an attendant to a place like this and saying he would make him his right hand would make him look like a truly simple-minded rustic.
“Desire is like clothing. If you try to wear something that does not fit your body, the clothes will tear, or your appearance will become unsightly.”
It sounded like an admonition to harbor ambitions suited to one’s station. At that, Seo Daeryong raised his head and abruptly asked,
“Then what sort of clothes are you wearing, elder?”
It was a truly bold and insolent question asking what his ambitions were.
Well done, Daeryong. If you want to learn what kind of person the other party is, you have to keep shaking them.
“If you are not going to entrust me with such a nasty task, then what benefit do you gain by helping me, elder? I may be a country bumpkin, but there is one thing I do know. The world never offers kindness without reason.”
Jo Ibaek behind the curtain did not reveal any discomfort. Instead, a pleasant laugh flowed out, as if he rather liked this attitude of Seo Daeryong’s. He would feel that this sort of person was easier to use.
Though my head was lowered, I was emitting my qi and sensing Jo Ibaek’s emotions. The person facing him at the front was Seo Daeryong, but I was the one fighting the real battle.
“I am investing for the future. If one wishes for a tree to become a great tree, should one not begin from the sapling?”
“Ah! I failed to grasp your grand intention, elder. Forgive me.”
Daeryong, there is no need to be sorry. Most of the villains I have experienced do not make long investments in people weaker than themselves. Use and discard, use and discard. To them, subordinates are always nothing more than consumables.
If they invest in saplings, it is only so they can use those trees as windbreaks while they themselves become great trees.
The reason he is investing in Seo Daeryong is the same. He has something to make him do. Whether it is making him kill someone or having him steal secrets from the Murim Alliance. He will try to take back as much as he has given. No, he will try to take back more than he gave. That is the way villains conduct business.
What I had to confirm was precisely this.
Are you the leader of the Cheonmyeong Society? Or have you also been recruited?
Jo Ibaek said to Seo Daeryong,
“I like your frankness. In the future, grow into a great tree that will support the righteous murim.”
“Thank you.”
With that exchange, we left the room.
As we walked toward the main gate, Seo Daeryong said to So Ok in a dejected voice,
“I think I made a mistake in my answer.”
With a self-reproachful expression, Seo Daeryong asked her,
“Did you receive that question as well, Squad Leader So? The question about whether you could kill someone you did not know.”
“I did.”
“What did you answer?”
“I said I could not kill them.”
“Ah! I should have answered that way too. I suppose I was blinded by my desire to make a good impression.”
I casually joined the conversation and asked So Ok,
“Do they really not make you do such things?”
So Ok stopped walking and glared at me.
From the moment we met until now, she had not shown the slightest interest in me. If an ordinary woman saw me, she would inevitably show some interest as a member of the opposite sex, but So Ok had none whatsoever.
I knew what women like this were like. They were people who ran only toward their own goals. The fact that she had no interest in me at all, yet treated Seo Daeryong so well, was enough to show how great her ambition was. She was trying to wear clothes far too large for her.
“Of course they don’t. What are you saying right now?”
At a glance, her cold reaction seemed like anger at the presumption of a mere attendant daring to ask such a question, but I could feel it. That sharp response that had sprung out so suddenly was a different kind of guilt.
‘So you did it.’
She had undoubtedly killed someone under Jo Ibaek’s orders.
“Forgive me. I was suddenly curious.”
I quickly lowered my head and stepped back.
Seo Daeryong stepped in and scolded me.
“Do not speak out of turn!”
“Yes.”
And so we parted from her in front of the manor’s main gate.
“Thank you very much for introducing me to the elder. I will be sure to repay this favor.”
“Think nothing of it. We should band together, at least among ourselves.”
So Ok showed Seo Daeryong a bright smile. Then she glared coldly at me behind him and left.
Once she disappeared, Seo Daeryong said to me,
“I wish all the women in the world treated me and the Pavilion Lord the way she did.”
“That is far too cruel to me, isn’t it?”
“I have lived like that my entire life.”
Seo Daeryong lowered his head deeply and began walking.
“Is this acting too?”
“This is my reality.”
“Since the person you are has changed, your reality will change as well.”
Seo Daeryong stopped walking and looked back at me. I could not bring myself to say, while looking at that expectant face, “Even so, women will probably still like handsome men,” so I nodded vigorously.
With his face noticeably brighter, Seo Daeryong asked,
“Did you find out anything from this meeting?”
For now, discovering that Jo Sin’s father, Jo Ibaek, was behind this was already a major achievement.
Seo Daeryong had noticed something as well.
“Squad Leader So seems to be doing something bad under that man, doesn’t she?”
When I nodded, Seo Daeryong burst out in indignation. His anger was directed at both So Ok and Jo Ibaek.
“Damn it! Just how successful does she want to become, going so far as to do things like that? Using people who have no money and are desperate! Pavilion Lord, we cannot leave these people alone.”
Was Seo Daeryong the only one enraged? I was merely holding back in order to pull them out completely, roots and all. If not for that, the Lord of Jinryong Manor would not have left that manor alive.
“But in the process, So Ok will have to pay the price as well.”
“Of course she should.”
Seo Daeryong let out a regretful sigh. Perhaps Seo Daeryong felt some sense of kinship with her. He, who had thrown himself into our cult without money or background, and she, who had thrown herself into the Murim Alliance, must have had the same heart in the end.
“I will stop by to send a carrier pigeon to Tongcheongak, so you go back first.”
“Will you be calling the Demon Supremes?”
“I will only report how the situation is unfolding.”
I had been given permission to receive more of their help, but even so, this was a successor’s trial. It would be best to handle it with my own hands as much as possible. I missed the Demon Supremes, but I would endure it a little longer.
“I intend to resolve this matter with the Murim Alliance Leader.”
Forming a deep connection with him was something absolutely necessary for the future as well.
After sending Seo Daeryong ahead, I spoke into the air.
“You must have heard the voice of the person behind the curtain.”
The martial artist in hiding would not have been able to see beyond the curtain directly, but he certainly would have heard Jo Ibaek’s voice.
“There is no need to wonder whether it was him or not. It is the person you are thinking of. This is an emergency, so let me meet the Alliance Leader at once.”
* * *
A single carriage was parked in an alley.
When I climbed into the carriage, Murim Alliance Leader Jin Paecheon was inside.
“You have probably received a report from your subordinate. That we met with the person attempting to recruit the winner of the Soryong Tournament.”
“I heard.”
From that point on, I spoke through voice transmission.
―Since you must have heard the general story from your subordinate, I will get to the point. He was the Lord of Jinryong Manor.
―Jinryong Manor has been, for generations, a prestigious sect among those that represent the orthodox murim. There is no way they would have been recruited by the likes of the Cheonmyeong Society.
―I confirmed it myself.
―I heard there was a curtain?
―I was able to see through that curtain. It was certainly him.
The Murim Alliance Leader still looked at me with suspicion. Since it was a house with which he had even been discussing marriage to Jin Haryeong, it would be even harder to believe. It was a situation where it would be easier for him to suspect me than to suspect the Lord of Jinryong Manor.
―That is not all. His son, Jo Sin, may also have been recruited by the Cheonmyeong Society. And he does not know that his father is in league with the Cheonmyeong Society.
The Alliance Leader’s shock grew even greater.
―Are you saying the Cheonmyeong Society recruited them separately?
―That is what I believe. Or perhaps the father recruited his child without revealing his identity.
If that were true, then the leader of the Cheonmyeong Society was truly an extraordinary bastard. He would be someone who recruited father and son separately and used them separately.
It would be the same even if Jo Ibaek were the leader of the Cheonmyeong Society. It would mean he had hidden his identity and recruited even his own child.
―Because the opponent is this kind of madman, you must trust no one until this matter is completely resolved.
The Murim Alliance Leader’s expression hardened. Hearing those words from the Second Young Master of the Demonic Cult must have made him feel truly stifled.
―If it had been someone else, I would have dealt with it in secret. But he is someone with whom you were even discussing marriage, Alliance Leader, and that is why I am telling you this.
―Why are you showing me goodwill?
―I will not lie and say it is because I respect you, Alliance Leader. Nor is it for Miss Jin. It is for our cult. If trouble erupts in the Murim Alliance, it will ultimately affect our cult as well. I do not want my father to use a crisis in the Murim Alliance as an opportunity to unite murim under him.
When I mentioned my father, Jin Paecheon’s eyes grew intense. On top of that, the provocative words “unite murim” had come out as well.
―I am not someone with enough nerve to lie while daring to bring up my father. So please believe me.
I did not avoid the Alliance Leader’s gaze as it bore down on me like a tiger. Because he had experienced all manner of hardships and battles, I trusted that he had the discernment to see the truth contained in my words.
―Very well. Let us say, as you claim, that it is the Lord of Jinryong Manor. Why do you think he is doing this?
―He is proceeding with marriage talks with you, Alliance Leader, and recruiting warriors of the Murim Alliance. Then is there not only one reason?
Jin Paecheon knew the answer as well.
―My position?
―It may be groundwork to place Jo Sin in the position of Murim Alliance Leader in the future. It may also be, disrespectful though it is to say, in order to assassinate you, Alliance Leader. We will only know their true intentions accurately by hearing it from their own mouths, but whatever it is, it will not be something pleasant for you to hear.
Jin Paecheon was not a benevolent, gentlemanly type of Alliance Leader. He was more domineering than any Alliance Leader in history, and his temper was as fiery as well. He was merely being as cautious as possible because his granddaughter was involved. Once his seal was undone, he would be a man no one could handle.
―I understand. From now on, I will confirm it myself.
He looked as though he wanted to seize the Lord of Jinryong Manor immediately and uncover the truth.
―You must not do that. As of now, he has committed no visible crime. Supporting a warrior of the Murim Alliance is something that merchant groups deeply connected to murim and murim sects openly do. We must find direct evidence that he is connected to the Cheonmyeong Society.
I made him one proposal.
―Let us resolve this matter between the two of us, without telling anyone else. If you trust me, I have a method.
―Do not look down on this alliance. If you have a method, then we have methods as well.
―I am not saying this because I look down on the Murim Alliance.
―Then why?
―Do you remember? The first moment I risked my life and revealed my identity.
I reminded him that we had been able to dig into this incident because I had told him all these facts. Jin Paecheon could not deny that much. He was a man, and a true martial artist.
Even so, I understood the Alliance Leader. In such a situation, it was only natural that he would not feel inclined to leave this matter in my hands. So I made him an extraordinary proposal.
―I will resolve it within five days. If I exceed that time limit, then you may resolve it yourself, Alliance Leader.
At my words, Jin Paecheon was startled.
“Can you truly resolve it within five days?”
“In return, you must actively assist me, Alliance Leader.”
“What do you intend to do?”
“They tried to scheme by using your blood kin, Alliance Leader. Then we must return it to them in kind.”
Jin Paecheon smiled coldly.
“That much, I like.”
After pondering for a moment, Jin Paecheon made his decision.
The words that marked the beginning of a joint operation between the Murim Alliance Leader and the Second Young Master of the Demonic Cult, something that had never once occurred in the history of murim, flowed from Jin Paecheon’s mouth.
“Proceed!”